Saturday, January 02, 2010
A
Men Who Listen listening party
Men Who Listen, (not to be confused with a Chicago
based group of the same name) are one of the more popular
participants of Prince Rupert's always lively music scene these days, and as we
welcome in 2010 the group has offered up a New Year's present to Podunkians,
in the form of a just released single called Prince Rumours.
The song was the group's contribution to the upcoming centennial
commemoration album for the city's 100th birthday later this year, a collection
of songs which will be unveiled on January 23rd at the Lester
Centre of the Arts.
.
The Men apparently didn't make the final cut with the album's selection
committee, perhaps a nod at the satirical nature of the single, which pokes fun
at
.
No doubt researched at the city's many coffee shops, watering
holes and through its online forums, Men Who Listen provided a pretty striking
reflection of the ability of Podunkians to take that story and play that
ages old game of "I've got a secret" which of course usually ends
with any number of variables, from scandal and malfeasance, to no doubt Black
Helicopters and alien abductions if given the chance.
We gather that the selection committee was searching for something
along the lines of a chest thumping Pavarotti like epic portrayal of our
communities growth from muskeg to er, potash, maybe huh, maybe? Songs that tug
at your heart and leave you misty eyed at our passages through time.
What they weren't apparently looking for was something akin to the
genius of Weird Al Yankovic,
who has made a career out of popping the balloons of the rich, the famous or
the fads and foibles of us all.
It's unfortunate that the lads didn't make the cut for the big
celebration recording, but for us the committees loss is our New Year's gain,
the song was originally posted on line as music file available for download
appearing on the htmf forum's Garage sale section (one wonders if they
are at heart a garage band).
We were so taken by the release, that we hailed its arrival as a topic of a forum post on htmf (which most likely
provided for much of the research for the song itself), where locals have been
quick to offer up their salute to the hard driving beat and the spot on
portrayal of the city's always churning cauldron of rumour and speculation.
From the audio file and forum salutes we now have a video
interpretation of the single, posted on the website Prince Rumour,
it takes what appear to be rather helpful portions of Sahar Nassimdoost's reports for CFTK TV
News and puts them to the big MWL beat. Making for a pretty impressive
video portrayal of the topic matter, (watch the flowers, it's our belief they
provide from some form of hallucinogenic powers that have made us amenable to
any political offering).
The band of course is available for any occasion as those in the
business say, though perhaps their real calling may be in the composition of a
satirical revue (and review) of the city's colourful history, perhaps the next
offering of the city's talented musical and acting ensembles (last seen at the
Wall) could be to offer us up a Men Who Listen soundtrack, outlining the
events, scandals, personalities and rumours that have charted this city's 100
year history.
It could be the groups seminal work, the always cherished concept
album that all groups have (albums for those too young are what your parents
used to listen to music on, archaic as it seems, they had to place a disc on a
turntable and lower a sharp needle on the petroleum based disc to make music)
the definitive piece of work which all others are forever compared.
Until that moment of artistic evolution arrives, we'll just sit
back, check
out the Men Who Listen website and take a listen and watch along to
the video interpretation, dedicated to Prince Rumour.